Snow White
“''Lips red as the rose. Hair black as ebony. Skin white as snow.” : ―The Magic Mirror describing Snow White '''Snow White' is the titular character and protagonist of Disney's first animated feature-length film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. She is a young princess; the "Fairest of Them All", who, in her innocence, cannot see any of the evil in the world. This makes her more vulnerable to her jealous stepmother, the Queen, who wishes to be the fairest in the land; however, Snow White's inherent kindness and purity inspires her friends, the forest animals and the Seven Dwarves, to protect her. She is the first and youngest official Disney Princess and provided the basis for later heroines such as Cinderella and Aurora. Background Snow White was born into the royal family. Her mother died shortly after her birth. After some time, Snow White's father remarried a vain and cold-hearted queen. Not long after their marriage, the King, Snow's beloved father, suspiciously died, leaving the young princess an orphan. As a young child, Snow White's vain and wicked stepmother the Evil Queenfeared that one day Snow White's beauty would surpass her own. So, she dressed Snow White in rags and forced her to work as a scullery maid to try to quench her growing beauty. Each day, the Queen consulted her magic mirror asking, "Magic Mirror on the wall, who is the fairest one of all?" As long as theMirror answered, "You are the fairest one of all," Snow White was safe from herstepmother's cruel jealousy. Snow White may have been a maid but she never complained when she worked and whenever she was sad she would always hum a tune to cheer herself up and her animal friends would visit. The people of the kingdom felt sorry for their princess when the Evil Queen made her a servant, but they could not rebel due to the Queen's power. Appearances Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Inciting the Queen's Jealousy The Evil Queen, jealous of her stepdaughter's beauty, forces Snow White to work as a scullery servant in her castle; even in rags and clogs, however, her beauty shines through, causing the Queen to worry that Snow White's beauty may one day surpass her own. She has such vanity that she consults her Magic Mirrorevery day, ordering the slave within to reveal the name of the fairest in the land. Every day the spirit says that the Queen is the fairest, and she is content, until the mirror informs her that Snow White has finally become the fairest in the land. Outside, as Snow White works, she then tells a group of doves a secret about the well she is drawing water from and tells them it's a wishing well and then sings "I'm Wishing", attracting the attention of the Prince, who is passing by. As she sings into the well, performing a duet with her echo, she is startled as the Prince suddenly joins in. She runs indoors, and watches from a balcony as he sings "One Song". The two are immediately infatuated with each other. Watching from above is the Queen, who angrily closes the curtains of her window in jealousy. Entering the Forest The Queen summons her huntsman to her and orders him to kill Snow White. The Queen asks him to bring her heart back in a special box as proof that he has succeeded in the task. The Huntsman takes Snow White to a secluded glade and, checking that no one else is present, advances on the princess as she is helping a young bird return to its parents. Snow White sees the Huntsman's shadow on the rock in front of her, turns around and screams in terror. However, the Huntsman cannot bring himself to kill her upon seeing the beauty in a princess such as herself and begs Snow White for forgiveness. He tells her of the Queen's insane jealousy and tells her to run away and never come back. She takes his advice and flees through the forest, and her fright is manifested in the plants around her; branches suddenly resemble claw-like hands, and floating logs resemble crocodiles. Overcome by terror, she eventually collapses, sobbing. As light enters the forest, the woodland creatures cautiously approach Snow White while she cries, and she befriends them. Together they sing "With A Smile And A Song". No longer frightened, Snow White asks the animals if they know where she can stay. They lead her to the cottage of the Seven Dwarfs; she enters and finds that no one is home. Noticing that the whole cottage is a complete mess, she cleans the house, with the help of the animals. She hopes that its residents, whom she believes to be children due to the size of the furniture, will let her stay if she cleans up for them. At this point she sings "Whistle While You Work". Later that evening, she and the animals go upstairs to find seven little beds. Feeling sleepy, she falls asleep over three of them. Meeting the Seven Dwarfs The Seven Dwarfs return home from a day's work at the Dwarfs' Mine. They see light coming from the window of their cottage and smoke coming from its chimney. They enter the house, creeping around as they search for the 'monster' they believe that has invaded their home. They hear a noise (some birds from the forest, joking about) coming from upstairs, and, after an unsuccessful attempt byDopey to chase the thing down, they enter the bedroom together. They approach the three beds that are being slept in, and are about to strike when Doc removes the bed cover to reveal Snow White sleeping. They are all infatuated with her, but Grumpy grumbles about her unwelcome presence, waking her up. She is first startled by the dwarfs, but soon befriends them, guessing the names of Doc, Bashful, Sleepy, Sneezy, Happy, Dopey and Grumpy because their names are carved on the beds. All the dwarfs except for Grumpy agree that Snow White is welcome to stay if she does the housework for them. A noise from downstairs reminds Snow White that she has left some soup boiling. She rushes downstairs, and tells the dwarfs that it is almost ready, and that they will have time to wash. She asks the dwarfs to see their hands and, upon seeing that their hands are dirty, insists them to march straight outside and wash; otherwise, they will not get anything to eat. The dwarfs reluctantly march outside and wash while singing Bluddle-Uddle-Um-Dum (The Dwarfs' Washing Song). They have just finished washing themselves when Snow White calls to them that supper is ready. After supper, the dwarfs perform "The Silly Song" for Snow White, and she dances with Dopey (who reaches her height by standing on Sneezy's shoulders). She then repays them when she sings "Some Day My Prince Will Come" as the dwarfs listen. The dwarfs then declare that Snow White will sleep upstairs, and that the dwarfs will find somewhere to sleep downstairs. Before Snow White goes to sleep, she says her prayers, blessing the seven little men for being so kind to her and wishing to make her dreams come true, as well as asking to make Grumpy like her. At the Queen's Castle, the Queen, after being told by the Magic Mirror that Snow White still lives, descends into her laboratory and transforms into the Witch. She prepares the Poisoned Apple, one bite of which will send its victim into the Sleeping Death, which can only be cured by 'Love's First Kiss'. Believing the dwarves will bury the princess alive, the Witch leaves the castle and proceeds towards the Dwarfs' Cottage. The Poisoned Apple The next morning, Snow White kisses each dwarf goodbye as they leave for the mine. Before Grumpy leaves (being the last one to depart), he warns her not to let anyone or anything in the house. Touched that he cares despite his negative exterior, Snow White decides to bake a pie for Grumpy with help from her animal friends. But she is then startled by the appearance of an old peddler woman who was actually, unbeknownst her, her wicked stepmother in disguise, peering through her window. She offers Snow White the apple, but is attacked by the woodland creatures, who sensed danger in her presence. Snow White shoos the animals away and takes the old woman inside for a drink of water. Meanwhile, the animals rush off to fetch the dwarfs. Thankful toward Snow White for being so good to "poor old Granny," the Queen tells her that the apple is no ordinary apple; but is a magic wishing apple, capable of making all of Snow White's wishes come true with a single bite. Snow White takes the apple and, before taking a bite, wishes for the Prince to carry her away to his castle, where they will live happily ever after. The Queen then persuades her to take a bite before the wish grows cold. Snow White does so and soon falls to the floor after feeling the poison's effects, which causes her to fall into a Sleeping Death. As the Queen is leaving, she is seen by the dwarfs, who chase her to a cliff, where she falls to her death to be eaten by vultures. Love's First Kiss The dwarfs find Snow White and they grieve her "death" as they return home. In mourning, they hold a funeral for her at their cottage. Finding her so beautiful, even in death, they cannot find it in their hearts to bury her and instead place her in a handmade coffin carved of glass and gold. As the time goes by, the Prince hears of this and rides to the clearing where her coffin has been placed. The dwarfs and forest animals make way for the Prince to approach Snow White. He then gives the princess a kiss, a "Love's First Kiss", which breaks the curse, reviving Snow White. She wakes up and, upon seeing the Prince, extends her arms out to him as he scoops her up in her arms. The dwarfs and the animals rejoice, as the Prince carries Snow White to his horse. She kisses each dwarf goodbye before leaving with the Prince for his castle (the outline of which is shown in the clouds above), where they live happily ever after. Sofia the First Snow White appears in the series Sofia the First, in the episode "The Enchanted Feast". Here, Snow White briefly tells the story of how a seemingly feeble old woman offering an apple turned out to be her wicked stepmother in disguise, telling Sofia to trust her instincts and that people aren't always who they seem to be; tying into Sofia's suspicious feelings toward a visiting sorceress (who is actually an evil fairy in disguise). At the end of the episode, Snow White briefly appears again in a magic morpho mirror, smiling proudly at Sofia. She is the second princess to not have a special song for Sofia after Aurora. She is also the second princess to make a double appearance in the same episode; first in the courtyard, and second in a magic morpho mirror. Ralph Breaks the Internet Trivia * Snow White is the first Disney Princess, the first main character, and the first heroine of Disney's animated feature. * Snow White is the only Caucasian Disney Princess to have black hair and brown eyes. * Snow White is the youngest Princess in the official line-up, being 14 years old, and is also the shortest of the Disney Princesses. Ironically, she is the oldest Disney Princess in terms of film debuts (78 as of 2015). * In The Muppets at Walt Disney World, Snow White was the Disney character who had the biggest part in the story, besides Mickey Mouse. * On June 28, 1987, Snow White was awarded with a star on the famous Hollywood Walk of Fame. * Snow White makes a cameo appearance of sorts in Aladdin and the King of Thieves when Genie turns Jasmine into Snow White. * To achieve a natural skin tone for Snow White, real rouge and other make-up was applied onto the cel. * The development designs for Snow White ranged from cartoony to more realistic, while the final colors of the dress had before gone through several changes before settling with its current blue and gold appearance. * Some of Snow White's dance moves were infamously reused for that of Maid Marian's in Robin Hood. * According to the Disneystrology book, her birthday would be on March 6th. * Some older promotional media incorrectly color her dress pink and purple instead of red, blue and yellow. * One illustration in the book The Art of the Disney Princess depicted Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs as a planetary system, with Snow White as the "sun" and the dwarfs as "planets." The latter appears to be a literal interpretation of "dwarf planet", a term coined in 2006 following the coining of an official definition of "planet" that refers to small spherical objects that are too small to be considered planets but too big and too round to be considered asteroids, and cannot "clear their neighborhood" during formation using their gravity to pull debris closer to it to make itself larger or push them away into space, leaving nothing else in its orbit except for moons. This category includes Pluto, the former ninth planet, the large asteroid Ceres, and the Trans-Neptunian objects Eris, Haumea, and Makemake. * Snow White's design was actually based on that of the Cookie Girl's from Cookie Carnival. * For unknown reasons Snow White in the film wears tan tights while in books and other merchandise her legs are bare. * In the Hello Kitty's Furry Tail Theater episode "Snow White Kitty and the One Dwarf", Hello Kitty wears Snow White's dress. * In Adventures of the Gummi Bears, Calla has a similar formal dress to Snow White's dress but has white skirts and extended sleeves.